264 replies to this topic

[skier691]

Alpine Valley WI
Sky Trac drive construction, from their FB page

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[DonaldMReif]

The Avanti Express lift will have chair parking at the upper terminal, not the bottom. The top terminal is mostly complete, the bottom terminal still is a work in progress.


Bottom Terminal:
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Top Terminal:
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[2milehi]

^^^ No grip bay?

[woofydoggie]

Okemo's new lift finally got some parts. The lift is called Suncatcher, and will be installed on the South Face side, that is being developed. They better bust but to get it done in time....

[Peter]

woofydoggie, on 10 October 2015 - 08:28 PM, said:

Okemo's new lift finally got some parts. The lift is called Suncatcher, and will be installed on the South Face side, that is being developed. They better bust but to get it done in time....

I was there yesterday and it's actually pretty far along. Some pictures: http://liftblog.com/...-two-new-lifts/

[floridaskier]

Here's Peter's blog post on progress at Park City if anyone missed it - Motherlode and King Con are almost done, and the gondola is coming along

http://liftblog.com/...e-in-park-city/

Did you see if any more of the Canyons lifts were painted red yet? Looks like Iron Mountain is still orange in the background of your gondola midstation pic

Here's the first one with the full paint scheme with the name. Looks like they're leaving the "Express" title off like PCMR did

[Peter]

floridaskier, on 11 October 2015 - 07:10 AM, said:

Here's Peter's blog post on progress at Park City if anyone missed it - Motherlode and King Con are almost done, and the gondola is coming along

http://liftblog.com/...e-in-park-city/

Did you see if any more of the Canyons lifts were painted red yet? Looks like Iron Mountain is still orange in the background of your gondola midstation pic

Here's the first one with the full paint scheme with the name. Looks like they're leaving the "Express" title off like PCMR did

I think every lift on the Canyons side has been painted now except for Iron Mountain and Orange Bubble.

[MNSkier]

MNSkier, on 29 September 2015 - 06:37 PM, said:

More pictures from Lutsen's Facebook page.

They just poured concrete yesterday at the bottom terminal and it appears that much of the top terminal is now complete.

Not sure where else to put this so I thought I would tie it into the new gondola going in at Lutsen.

1) Have not seen this personally but I have been told by two different parties that both the Bull Chair (FGD Yan on Moose Mountain) & the Eagle Chair (FGD Muller on Eagle Mountain) have been removed. For sure the chairs and haul ropes are gone, also sounds like most if not all of the towers and terminals are down too. I don't really think the loss of the eagle chair is significant as I have only seen it run a handful of times in the past 10 years. The Bull Chair is a different story thou, while the Caribou Express gets most of the traffic, the Bull chair still had a purpose for the runs on the east side of the mountain.

2) The are doing some major excavating at the base of KooKoo and Hari Kari. Apparently as of a few weeks ago they had moved a significant amount of dirt which had left a "cliff" on the return trail from the north face runs (Georges, Cliffs, Caroline's challenge, etc) where it merges with KooKoo. Apparently some of the dirt movement is to re-sculpt the bunny hill (FlapJack) because the new gondola is eating into its usable area. However from what I hear about the amount of dirt they are moving around it also sounds like they might be trying to flatten out the area between KooKoo, HariKari and the chalet so it is less of a gully and easier to navigate... But that is purely speculation on my part.

3) To help with the removal of the Bull chair they are apparently doing some cutting and re-grading on some of the runs that were served by the Bull Chair. Sounds like this is happening towards the bottom to help the flow of traffic back to the Caribou Express.

4) Apparently they are cutting several new trails off of the Timberwolf chair. Sounds like some of those runs may be between WhiteWolf and the Caribou run and others will be to the west and loop back to the Timberwolf chair....

[skier2]

All of what you just said regarding Lutsen is true and confirmed by their Facebook moderator. The Bull chair removal is interesting, I guess they cut some swaths of trees out at the base of Moose to make navigation to the Caribou Express from Bull Run easier. Lutsen has stated that it has no plans to replace that lift at this time. I think a HSQ on that line at some point would be nice, since the terrain over there really is quite different from the terrain on the Caribou side, even though the Caribou Express serves all of it.

A new run has been cut in the gladed area between lower Bull Run and lower Cascades. It is a black (most difficult) run and the bottom pitch is comparable to Bull Run in terms of steepness. A run was also cut between the current Upper Caribou trail and Timberwolf run. A return from midway down Timberwolf back to Caribou was also added.

I would imagine the next move would be an upgrade to the Bridge chair since It is now the sole top to bottom option on Eagle. A FGQ would probably suffice here, although a HSQ would be nice. I doubt they'd go detachable since it would need a mid-station for the summer alpine slide operations. Other upgrades to expect would be the two new chairs on Moose and one on Eagle (which I think should come first since it would add full-length beginner terrain which is much needed on Eagle) as well as potential new terrain on the backside of Moose. I would imagine the Mystery chair will also need upgrading soon, although I'm not sure they'd replace that or just close it and let the terrain go abandoned. If they did replAce it, I'd be surprised if they ran it all the way to the top — the mystery chair is currently the longest lift at Lutsen besides the gondola and the terrain is flat for much of it. It could theoretically be widened and re-graded to make some excellent learning terrain but I doubt that will ever happen. And with the major investments in the new gondola and summit chalet expansion this summer, it may be a while before we get much else. It shall remain to be seen, but certainly some excellent developments up in my neck of the woods :)

[woofydoggie]

Peter, on 11 October 2015 - 03:01 AM, said:

I was there yesterday and it's actually pretty far along. Some pictures: http://liftblog.com/...-two-new-lifts/

Ok! What drive is LP going to use on Suncatcher? Im hoping to see those pictures of Hermitage. They suck at keeping their followers informed on whats up. Did it appear that they were reusing the carriers from Jackson Gorge?

This post has been edited by woofydoggie: 11 October 2015 - 07:18 PM

[Lift Dinosaur]

woofydoggie, on 11 October 2015 - 07:16 PM, said:

Ok! What drive is LP going to use on Suncatcher?

Alpha 80
Dino

[woofydoggie]

The Alpha is getting old now, I wonder if LP is planning to design a new drive type...

[vons]

woofydoggie, on 12 October 2015 - 05:25 PM, said:

The Alpha is getting old now, I wonder if LP is planning to design a new drive type...

If it isn't broken why fix it.

[2milehi]

The thought process of the Alpha terminal is 40 years old. Imagine if your thought process was put toward cars. Model A cars would still dominate the road at 20 MPH.

[silence]

Towers for the Valley House FGQ at Sugarbush were flown in yesterday.

And I don't know about you, but that 4th tower from the top doesn't look like it's aligned very well with the others, probably just the perspective of the photo though...

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This post has been edited by silence: 14 October 2015 - 10:08 AM

[Backbowlsbilly]

Travis Ganong, American World Cup Ski Racer, posted a picture of the progress on Siberia yesterday on Instagram. (https://instagram.co...by=travisganong) It appears to have quite an impressive breakover tower at the top, the name of which I can't remember, but I believe the last time L-P built a tower of that style was on the pulse gondola in Orizaba, Mexico.

[JSteigs]

silence, on 14 October 2015 - 10:03 AM, said:

Towers for the Valley House FGQ at Sugarbush were flown in yesterday.

And I don't know about you, but that 4th tower from the top doesn't look like it's aligned very well with the others, probably just the perspective of the photo though...

[JSteigs]

silence, on 14 October 2015 - 10:03 AM, said:

Towers for the Valley House FGQ at Sugarbush were flown in yesterday.

And I don't know about you, but that 4th tower from the top doesn't look like it's aligned very well with the others, probably just the perspective of the photo though...

If they were just flown in it may not be sitting flat on the concrete. Flying towers can be quick and dirty due to cost. They get tightened, and leveled when the helicopter leaves.

[vons]

2milehi, on 13 October 2015 - 05:23 PM, said:

The thought process of the Alpha terminal is 40 years old. Imagine if your thought process was put toward cars. Model A cars would still dominate the road at 20 MPH.

Not what I am saying, I am saying change for change sake is not a good design mantra and that evolutionary vs revolutionary designs tend to be more successful. Poma has evolved the Alpha terminal in its 30year existence and the design has proven adaptable to the task why go to the expense of starting over if it works

[JSteigs]

Backbowlsbilly, on 14 October 2015 - 03:12 PM, said:

Travis Ganong, American World Cup Ski Racer, posted a picture of the progress on Siberia yesterday on Instagram. (https://instagram.co...by=travisganong) It appears to have quite an impressive breakover tower at the top, the name of which I can't remember, but I believe the last time L-P built a tower of that style was on the pulse gondola in Orizaba, Mexico.

Poma re used the concret from the old portal towers, Orizaba was due to the height (150').